Reflect on your learning in outreach/short placements or with members of the multi-disciplinary team who are supervising your learning.
Where the learning took place
The name or description of the practice area
woodside community centre , district nursing team
When the learning took place
You can provide a single date or date range
It was on 23 of November 2021
Who you learnt from
You can list one or more people or provide a team name
Registered nurse Sarah Holden band 5
Student reflection
As I was going to check on a palliative patient P with a registered nurse S. The brief was mainly to check pressure areas and well being. When we got in the house, we were welcomed by the family and invited to the patient’s room. She was sleeping and looked peaceful. Her breathing was fine, slow and steady . We learned from her son that her carers had just repositioned her.
The nurse explained to the family who agreed that it was not appropriate to turn her again to check pressure areas. The Nurse told them that we would be coming back later when the carers were due, which was around time lunch time.
Unfortunately, when we came back, we were told by patient’s P’s son that she passed away around half an hour after we left. The family invited the Nurse and I, to say goodbye. I found the Nurse’s action on that call exceptional for the following reasons;
The Nurse had the right call in prioritising the patient rather than the task that we were assigned to do. The Nurse’s assessment was correct in that at this particular time, it was more important to keep the patient comfortable by not disturbing her peace as.she had just been turned. The Nurse recognised that at this particular time, the patient needed to be left alone. In doing so, she upheld the NMC code which requires nurses’ to recognise and respond with compassion to the needs of patients who are in their end of life journey .
The Nurse kept calm when she was told of the patient P’s passing. She said the right words to show compassion to the family and I could see that they were very grateful. It was professionalism in action
I felt so emotional when we were told about patient P’s death. I could not hold back my tears when we got to the car. The Nurse was once again exceptional in just wrapping her arm around me and handing me tissues to give me time to pick myself up and carry on.
It’s easy especially when it is busy to loose sight of the human dimension of the work we do. This experience was a reminder that our patient’s needs are to be prioritised all the time by keeping their best interest’s at the heart of our actions in line with the NMC code